Why Saudi Arabia airline (Saudia) started direct flights to Entebbe

On Wednesday morning, Saudia, the National flagship carrier for Saudi Arabia launched direct flights to Uganda.

The launch that happened at Entebbe International Airport is seen as one of the moves to reduce traveling time for Ugandans getting to Saudi Arabia for labor export.

A report by the Ministry of Gender Labor and Social development indicates that more that 12,000 Ugandans on average go to the Middle East Annually for work.

Among the jobs they do, Ugandans Participate in house chores, security guards, supermarket workers and Airports and Aviation Security.

In 2015, Saudi Arabia announced that it had secured up to 3 million Jobs for Ugandans to work, to be distributed in a span of five years.

However, several of the Ugandans within the Asian country have always complained of increased torture and imprisonment. Uganda, through its embassy in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia started engaging in diplomatic engagements that saw a combination of measures being put in place to prevent torture.

Despite the torture allegations, several Ugandans have continued to look for opportunities in the country. The country currently is the largest market for the Ugandan labor force.

Many of the Ugandans go through the 43 legaly accepted labor exporting companies in Uganda while many others go through the Ugandan pourus borders in Busia to Nairobi before boarding to Saudi Arabia.

“Some of those who go through such mechanisms go unregistered,” Police was quoted in 2019.

However, to get to Saudi Arabia, Ugandans needed to have stop overs in Dubai (UAE) before continuing to Riyadh’s King Khalid International Airport in Saudi Arabia to work.

It is upon such background that Saudi Arabia’s national Flagship carrier, Saudia, on Wednesday afternoon launched direct flights to Saudi Arabia from Uganda to ease transport.

“It has always been tiresome for some of us to have stop overs in a long journey such as that from Uganda to Saudi Arabia,” one of the travelers to Saudi Arabia who asked not to be named told this website.

The Saudia airline becomes the 17th international Airline company to operate at the Entebbe international airport.

Others include Kenya Airways, KLM, Qatar, Tanzanian airways, Ethiopian Airlines, among others.

Entebbe International Airport had by 2019 registered the highest number of passenger of up to 1.84 million traveling to and from Uganda.

However, the number reduced due to the closure of the airport in March 2020 by President Yoweri Museveni to curb the spread of Covid 19.

The Uganda Civil Aviation Authority has since the resumption of passenger flights to and from Entebbe been registering an increasing number of people using the only operating airport in Uganda.

Uganda Civil Aviation Authority has welcomed the introduction of Air Saudia at Entebbe International Airport saying it would improve transport between Uganda and Saudi Arabia.

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